


Counting Stars

by temporalesca



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Also this fic starts off in the hospital, Fluff, Getting Together, Kurapika uses they/them pronouns, M/M, Nonbinary Character, Nonbinary Kurapika, Other, So there is a very slight mention of some injury stuff but it is just a mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-06
Updated: 2015-08-06
Packaged: 2018-04-13 09:01:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4515894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/temporalesca/pseuds/temporalesca
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yesterday was my friend David's birthday.  He's a huge fan of Leopika, so I thought I'd write him some pure fluff!</p>
<p>This is half of a collab with tumblr user <a href="http://ilmenskie.tumblr.com">ilmenskie</a>.  You can see his art that goes with the fic here: <a href="http://ilmenskie.tumblr.com/post/126049096389/my-roommate-temporalesca-and-i-did-a-collab-for">link</a>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Counting Stars

**Author's Note:**

  * For [David](https://archiveofourown.org/users/David/gifts).



Leorio hated when he had to do his late night ER clinicals.  There were a lot less patients than there were during the day, meaning there was less to do and his shifts seemed to stretch on and on. The patients were also always adults, and since Leorio wanted, above all, to be a pediatrician, he felt like his talents were being wasted.  On the bright side, he was making valuable contacts at the hospital, who he could use as mentors when he started his own practice.

At least, that’s what he told himself every day when he went into work, and every time that his break was cut short because of another drunken idiot, as it was now.

This idiot in question must have gotten into a barfight or something, Leorio thought to himself as he followed the doctor he was shadowing to the exam room. He stopped short when he entered the room, immediately recognizing the patient.

Kurapika swore under their breath when they laid eyes on Leorio.

“When they asked me if it was fine if a student observed, I should have known better than to say yes,” they grumbled.

“What the hell happened to you?” Leorio asked, his eyes narrowing. Kurapika wasn’t a stranger to fights, but it wasn’t like them to end up in the emergency room after them.

“I don’t want to talk about it, Leorio,” they said crisply, averting their eyes. “Can I please just get these glass shards out of my arm?”

The doctor on duty stepped in to make light conversation with Kurapika, who answered in short, one word answers as the glass was methodically pulled out of their arm and they were stitched up.

Leorio excused himself after Kurapika was finished being taken care of in order to follow them to discharge.

“You can’t disappear without letting me know what happened,” Leorio said.  He had wanted to make it a command but it came out sounding more like a plea.

Kurapika remained silent as they filled out all of the forms the nurse gave them, and only when they were done did they turn to face Leorio.

“It may actually be quite fortunate that I ran into you.  I could probably use a place to stay, as the place I was staying at may not be too eager to allow me back.”

Kurapika raised their hand to cut off the question forming on Leorio’s lips. “Let me just say that I let my temper get the best of me, and I got into a fight at the inn I was staying at. I was putting it mildly when I said that they would not be too eager to allow me back.  They definitely would call the police as soon as they saw my face again.”

“Jeez, Kurapika,” Leorio sighed, “I thought you were supposed to be the more level-headed of the two of us.”

That made Kurapika crack a grin, and Leorio felt his lips tugging upwards to match it.

“Yeah, of course you can stay at my place,” he said. “My shift goes for another three hours, though, so you’ll have to occupy yourself until then.”

Kurapika nodded.  “I’ll meet you outside the hospital in three hours then.”

 

True to their word, Kurapika was waiting outside of the hospital when Leorio left at the end of his shift, a coffee from the place two blocks away in each hand. They offered one to Leorio, who took it gratefully.  The hospital coffee was terrible, and he often didn’t have the time or energy to seek better coffee.

Leorio didn’t want to mar such a sweet offering with trying to wrestle answers out of Kurapika, so he remained silent on the bus ride to his apartment.

As he was unlocking his door for them, he suddenly remembered all of the dirty dishes he had promised himself that he would get to later today, and how his sheets were probably due for a change.

“Sorry it’s not much,” He apologized as the key turned in the lock and the door swung open.  “Most of the med students live in this apartment building because it’s cheap and not too far from the hospital.  We spend all our time either there or at school that we don’t really care about how nice our apartments are.”

“Leorio, relax.  I’m not going to criticize your home when you so graciously allowed me to stay,” Kurapika said, entering the apartment and toeing off their shoes.

“Besides, it’s nice.  Very _you_ ,” they said, looking over what they could see of the apartment from the door.

Leorio couldn’t help but feel a little insulted, even though Kurapika did not mean it that way in the slightest.  He would rather Kurapika think of him belonging in a high class apartment with lots of nice furniture, rather than his cramped space with a mismatch of things he bought from strangers online.

“Hey, Leorio?” Kurapika asked, pulling him out of his fretting. “I know you want answers, and I promise to give them to you, but do you mind if I take a nap first? I didn’t get a whole lot of sleep last night and I feel like I’m going to pass out.”

“Of course,” Leorio said.  “Let me make up the bed for you.”

“No, no, the couch is fine,” Kurapika said hastily.  “I don’t want to put you through too much trouble.”

“Okay, if you’re sure.”  Leorio grabbed his spare set of sheets and made a makeshift bed for Kurapika.  He would normally fall asleep after his shift, but because of the coffee that Kurapika got for him and the guest on the couch, Leorio waited until Kurapika’s breath evened out, and started cleaning up as quietly as he could.  With anyone else, he would have just shrugged it off, but something about Kurapika made him want to give off his best impression.

They had come such a long way, Leorio thought with a chuckle as he washed his dishes as quietly as he could.  He remembered when he had first met Kurapika, on the boat those years ago. They were at each other’s throats and it was mainly through Gon that they stopped fighting and started working together, to become Hunters.  Now he’s on his way to becoming a doctor, and Kurapika was on their mission to recover their clan’s eyes.

Leorio’s laugh disappeared and he became solemn as he wondered why Kurapika was in town and what he had done to get himself in trouble last night.

After he had finished washing his dishes and tucking most of his clutter away in the corners, he went to lay down on his bed for a little bit.

He only meant to sleep for a few hours, but when he opened his eyes again, the clock read 5:30 pm.  Leorio jerked upright and scrambled out of bed.  Kurapika was probably long gone by now.

But to his surprise, they were sitting at his kitchen table, reading the newspaper. They looked up at him and cocked an eyebrow upon hearing him enter the room.

“Oh,” Leorio said, knowing that Kurapika could read him like a book but trying to play it off.  “I thought you might have left. ”

“I won’t pretend I didn’t deserve that,” Kurapika said carefully, folding the newspaper and laying it off to the side.  “I’m really sorry being so… evasive in the past.  I got much too caught up in avenging my clan and trying to recover all of the eyes.  I didn’t fully appreciate the few people who cared about me, and it speaks to how true and caring they are that they still are willing to be there for me, even though I wasn’t there for them.”

They locked eyes with Leorio, and he immediately understood that there was an additional gravity behind their words. 

“Hey. We all understand how important this is to you.  What kind of friends would we be if we allowed you to fade out of contact?  Sorry, buddy, you’re gonna be stuck with us for a long time,” Leorio said cracking a grin.

Kurapika’s eyes softened and a small smile graced their lips.  Leorio felt his heart speed up and _uh oh_.  He thought he was finally over his big embarrassing crush on Kurapika, but it was _great_ to know that all it took was them to have a slightly decent conversation and all the feelings would come rushing back.

Leorio cleared his throat noisily.  “So, do you want some dinner?”

“I hope you mean takeout,” Kurapika said slyly.  “I still remember your last attempt to cook.  It’s a good thing Killua has a built up immunity to poison.”

“Hey!” Leorio said indignantly.  “I’ll have you know that living on my own for a few years has transformed me into a okay cook.” He deflated a little bit. “But it doesn’t matter, because I don’t have any food in my apartment right now so we’d have to order delivery.”

“Of course, Leorio,” Kurapika said, their sly grin not shrinking in the slightest.

They ordered food from Leorio’s favorite place, and as they were waiting for it to arrive, Kurapika told the tale of how they ended up in the emergency room. Leorio had been expecting a good reason, considering it was Kurapika and they tended to be more levelheaded than him.  As it turned out, Kurapika had had maybe half a drink too many and gotten a little too worked up over a stranger speaking too positively of the Phantom Troupe, and they had gotten in a brawl.

Leorio barked with laughter and Kurapika scowled at him before flicking him in the nose.

“It’s not funny!” they grumbled.

“Hey, 99% of the time I’m the one being an idiot and you’re the one laughing at me. Let me have this.”

Kurapika flicked him once more on the nose but smiled.  The food arrived shortly after and the conversation gently transitioned to Leorio telling Kurapika about his experiences at med school and the hospital.  After eating, they migrated to the couch and Kurapika shared some of the stories of their mission for their clan’s eyes.

“Hey, ah, Leorio?”

“Yeah?” Leorio got nervous at Kurapika’s sudden hesitance.

“I really appreciate you letting me crash at your place today. I can find another place to sleep tonight if you want to kick me out.”  Leorio opened his mouth to protest but Kurapika continued talking over him. “I wanted to let you know this because you may not want to be around me after you hear what I have to say, and I don’t want you to feel like you have to put up with me just because you think I have no where to go.”

“Kurapika, _what_ are you _talking_ about?” Leorio asked, exasperated.

“I have feelings for you,” Kurapika blurted out.  “I didn’t want to let myself get involved with anything or anyone that would take my focus off of my mission, but I’m getting closer to getting the last pair of eyes back, and running into you seemed like… I don’t know, _fate_. But I want you to know that even if you don’t feel the same way, I would still like to remain friends, if possible.”

Leorio burst out laughing and Kurapika looked shocked.  “Are you serious?” he gasped between chuckles. “I thought you were supposed to be the perceptive one.  Kurapika, I’ve practically been in love with you since the Hunter Exam.”

Kurapika punched Leorio’s arm.  “Well you sure have a terrible way of showing it.”

“Yeah, like you’re any better!” Leorio said, gesturing to the arm that Kurapika just punched.

Kurapika just laughed at him.

They sat there for a moment, just looking at each other.  Leorio felt his cheeks heat up, and he was about to break the silence when Kurapika leaned forward and pressed their lips against his.

Leorio’s mind short-circuited.  Should he hold Kurapika’s face? Ah, but his hands were starting to sweat. But wrapping his arms around Kurapika’s neck was a little awkward with how they were sitting.

Luckily, Kurapika took control of the situation.  They grabbed his hand and put it on his hip, before wrapping their arms around his neck.

Leorio tried to stop thinking too hard and just kiss back, but he had a hard time believing that this was actually happening to him.  He was glad that Kurapika had taken initiative and confessed to him first, because Leorio probably would have never gotten the guts to say anything.

There was a sudden quick force against Leorio’s chest and he ended up lying back on the couch with Kurapika on top of him.   They continued kissing for a bit before Kurapika pulled away to breathe.

“What was that about?”

“You seemed like you were thinking too hard,” they said with a small smile.

“Hey, you wanna do something else?”

Kurapika’s eyebrows drew together. “Alright.  Did you have something particular in mind?”

Leorio grinned.  “Yeah. C’mon, let’s go.”

Leorio led them to the window, and the two of them climbed out and up the fire escape. There was a ladder to the roof at the top, which they climbed up.

“The stars aren’t as bright as they were in some places we were at during the Hunter Exam, but this town isn’t nearly as big as Yorknew, so they’re still pretty bright,” Leorio said quietly, looking up at the sky.  “I like to come up here and think sometimes.”

“Thank you for bringing me up here.” Kurapika said, grabbing Leorio’s hand. “I’m so glad that I ended up running into you at the hospital.”

Leorio’s face burned red at the skin contact.  “Yeah, well, don’t get in anymore stupid fights, okay?  C’mon, Kurapika, you’re better than that.”

Kurapika stood on their tiptoes and pressed a kiss to Leorio’s cheek. “I promise.”

Leorio tried to hide sappy smile and gave Kurapika’s hand a small squeeze. Kurapika took a half step closer to Leorio and the two of them craned their heads back to look at the stars.

**Author's Note:**

> I tweet a lot about hxh and haikyuu!! on my twitter- [@kageyamaguchi](http://www.twitter.com/kageyamaguchi)  
> If you're more of a tumblr person, mine is [temporalesca](http://temporalesca.tumblr.com) but it's not strictly fandom like my twitter.  
> Anyway, I love talking to new people so feel free to message me!


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